If you are a humanitarian you have to believe in the Constitution and in the free market.–Ron Paul
Quote, On the Future of the United States
The future grows dark for the United States. We have a bad administration that is corrupt, secretive, incompetent and disdainful of liberty. We have a press that for the most part cannot distinguish news from celebrity gossip. We have an education system that is manufacturing functional illiterates. We have a public that seemingly believes the only things worthwhile in life are entertainment and consumption. —Charley Reese
N.T. Wright vs. Gnostic “Reformed” thinkers…
Bishop Wright’s lecture on God and Politics are worth quoting. Lee Irons–who strongly opposes Wright’s view of the Kingdom–posted these quotes on his blog.
Wright’s lecture on God and Politics
Though, I find myself in constant disagreement with Wright’s perplexing view of governmental intervention in civil affairs, overwhelming taxation–which resembles Jim Wallis’ leftist socialistic approach–nevertheless, I too share Wright’s concerns with America’s imperialistic enterprise.
Some Reformed interpreters like to postulate that Psalm 2 is only an eschatological promise never to be seen or experienced by God’s people. What hope does the Psalmist provide then for God’s people? Wright corrects this absurd claim and restores the unmistakable Biblical claim that the earth is the Lord’s. As a result, Psalm 2 provides a response to the gnostic tendency of some reformed scholars who are more and more imitating their dispensational brothers in their “escapist” theology.
Jesus did indeed launch God’s saving sovereignty on earth as in heaven, but this couldn’t be accomplished without his death and resurrection. In other words, the problem for which God’s kingdom project was and is the answer was deeper than could be addressed by a social program alone. Equally too, yes, Jesus did die for our sins, but his whole agenda of dealing with sin and its effects and consequences was never about rescuing individual souls from the world but about saving humans so that they could become part of his project of saving the world.
Jesus was hailed as already Lord of heaven and earth, and in particular as the one through whom the Creator God will restore and unite all things. And this gives a sharp focus to the present task of earthly rulers … Now, since Jesus’ death and resurrection … they are to look forward … to the ultimate eschaton. One day God will right all wrongs through Jesus, and earthly rulers – whether or not they acknowledge this Jesus and his coming kingdom – in fact are entrusted with the task of anticipating in a measure that final judgment and final mercy … They are to enact in a measure, in advance, the time when God will make all things new and will once again declare that it’s very good.
Along with this vision of God working through earthly rulers there goes a vocation to the church to be the people through whom the rulers are to be reminded of their task and called to account … Part of the way in which the church will do this is by getting on with and setting forward those works of justice and mercy, of beauty and relationship, which the rulers know in their bones ought to be flourishing but which they seem powerless to bring about … Thus, the church in its biblical commitment to doing ‘God in public’ is called to learn how to collaborate without compromise (hence the importance of the common good theory) and to critique without dualism … The aim of this lecture, then, is to encourage readings of the Bible which by highlighting the public-ness of God and the gospel set forward such reforms as will enable the church to play its part in holding the powers to account and thus advancing God’s restorative justice.
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Ron Paul on Abortion…(2)
In 40 years of medical practice, I never once considered performing an abortion, nor did I ever find abortion necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. In Congress, I have authored legislation that seeks to define life as beginning at conception, H.R. 1094. I am also the prime sponsor of H.R. 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v Wade by removing the ability of federal courts to interfere with state legislation to protect life. This is a practical, direct approach to ending federal court tyranny which threatens our constitutional republic and has caused the deaths of 45 million of the unborn. I have also authored H.R. 1095, which prevents federal funds to be used for so-called “population control.” Many talk about being pro-life. I have taken and will continue to advocate direct action to restore protection for the unborn.–Ron Paul
(Another Ron Paul quote on abortion)
Calvinism a Life System by Abraham Kuyper
Here are some great quotes from my study of Kuyper’s first lecture entitled: Calvinism A Life System.
11 -Two life systems are wrestling with one another, in mortal combat. Modernism is bound to build a world of its own from the data of the natural man, and to construct man himself from the data of nature; while on the other hand, all those who reverently bend the knee to Christ and worship Him as the Son of the Living God, and God himself, are bent upon saving the ‘Christian Heritage.’ (Kuyper, Abraham. Lectures on Calvinism. Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1931. pg. 11) Continue reading “Calvinism a Life System by Abraham Kuyper”
Quote on Constitutional Abuse…
Republicans, supposed defenders of limited government, actually are enablers of an unlimited presidency. Their belief in strict construction of the Constitution evaporates, and they become, in behavior if not in thought, adherents of the woolly idea of a “living Constitution.” They endorse, by their passivity, the idea that new threats justify ignoring the Framers’ text and logic about shared responsibility for war-making.Unless and until Congress stops prattling about presidential “usurpation” of power and asserts its own, it will remain derelict regarding its duty of mutual participation in war-making. And it will merit its current marginalization.–George Will
On Community, Quote
…the Christian life is always defined by a person’s concrete existence within a community. -Simon Chan
1. Simon Chan’s Spiritual Theology, p.15 [↩ back]
Quotes from Ron Paul’s: Freedom Under Siege, part 2
From Paul’s introduction to Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution After 200 Years:
America is no longer a bastion of freedom, prevailing ideology, grounded in economic ignorance and careless disregard for individual liberty, is nurtured by a multitude of self-serving, power-seeking politicians spouting platitudes of compassion for the poor who are created by their own philosophy. Reelection is paramount in the minds of most of those who represent us, while freedom and constitutional restraint of power are considered old-fashioned and unwise (pg.1). Continue reading “Quotes from Ron Paul’s: Freedom Under Siege, part 2”
Quotes from Freedom Under Siege, Part 1
Ron Paul’s Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution after 200 years was written in the late eighties. Lew Rockwell’s introduction speaks better than anything else concerning Ron Paul’s character in the early days of his political career. Here are some great quotes from the foreword to the book by Rockwell:
And in the often corrupt and always superficial city of Washington, D.C., he was a beacon of honesty and decency.
His only concerns were freedom, peace, the Constitution, and honest money, and these same ideals animate his latest book.
The backslapping,vote-trading politicians and lobbyists felt uncomfortable around Ron Paul, almost as though their shirt collars were too tight.
He educated millions, spreading the ideas of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard on runaway government, sound money, and the free market. Continue reading “Quotes from Freedom Under Siege, Part 1”
Quote 3, James Jordan On the Sacraments
God’s affirmation of the material world is seen in the fact that He uses physical water to introduce people into His kingdom, and by the fact that we eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood in the Lord’s Supper. Many Christians, however, cannot embrace such physical ideas. Water baptism, is thus reduced to a mere symbol instead of a powerful communication from God, and so are the bread and wine of the Supper. Such a reduction was not the view of the Protestant Reformers, who sought to correct the magical views of the Papal Church, without denying that God really acts through such material means.
Jordan, James. Creation in Six Days, pg. 73.